the end of foreign backing for terrorism and the formation of a new government president of. syria good. deal prevents the us from over the fiscal cliff because of all raising taxes on wealthy americans. and nationwide financial disaster. forced into revealing it you about a plan to assassinate the leaders of occupy wall street but chose not to warn them .

russian. government in france over. taxes on the super rich. back at the past seven days top stories and the latest developments this is the weekly here on. this has outlined his vision on how to end almost two years of continued civil conflict one of the key conditions for peace according to president bashar assad is regional and international powers to stop supporting the groups. well there has certainly been rather interesting quotes coming from the syrian president he in fact called to hold an international reconciliation conference to end of the violence and the military conflict which is going on be going on for

almost two years now in syria and this initiative according to assad will lead to a national wide referendum and fair election which is the only way according to the syrian president that the political landscape in this country can be changed but this initiative can only be possible according to assad if the western countries and some regional countries as he put it stop investing into terrorist groups which are fighting to overthrow his his regime has been again pretty much a defining tone saying that the only way that syria will listen to the outside world is through a device not through a dictating well this speech of the syrian president comes amid very serious concerns about the safety of journalists working in syria the year has only just started but already we have a syrian a pro governmental journalist killed this week he was wounded and then taken to the hospital where he later died also my own colleagues from r.t.

arabic station he got injured among a group of other journalists who were covering the movement of a governmental convoy through the country. says that they were shot at by the rebels despite wearing special jackets with the words press on them there also has been an ongoing story of a ukrainian journalist on how to question about who's been missing and nobody knows where she is and whether she's actually alive but the reports that she was kidnapped by the rebels and there was a ransom demand that for her release outraged many organizations with the reports that syria has already been named as the most dangerous country in the world for journalists to work at certainly things are not looking any better at the moment. well to talk more on the syrian crisis in the political steps to overcome it i'm joined live by markus papadopoulos he's editor of the magazine politics first president assad has said he's not willing to negotiate with those opposition groups

which he sees as the puppets of the west talking about exactly here. so when president assad says he's not going to talk to the opposition he's rushing into the armed opposition the so-called free syrian army and his political wing of the syrian national council which is a foreign based opposition movement and it's very important to make this clear in particular for western audiences who are unfortunately not fed the full picture it comes to syria the free syrian army is a lethal cocktail or various groups including many islamist groups and many groups linked to al qaida and the free syrian army is of course backed by certain countries in the west most notably america and certain countries in the region most notably turkey saudi arabia and qatar and the free syrian army or the f.s.a. it's more commonly referred to has been responsible for heinous violent terrorist acts in the last couple of years in syria the most recent of course was

a petrol station bombing a few days ago which was not in the deaths of about a dozen syrian civilians including children so it's it's it's pretty clear why president assad will not talk to the armed opposition and its political wing and the political wing being the syrian national coalition which of course is influenced by the e.u. in the us so who is there left to talk to then if not to the opposition is influenced by the west does it talk to them this is another important point to clarify there is once again many lay people in the west for no fault of their own and also aware of the situation in syria there is a domestic opposition. parties which want to see political change in syria but they do not extremist groups islamist groups for example which reside in the syrian national council and also in the free syrian army now the domestic syrian opposition made it very clear from the start yes they want change but they want to

work with president assad and the syrian government is the only legitimate force there so if the only legit. some of the forty's in syria he is still refusing to recognize that there is a genuine uprising among the syrian people and is instead blaming terrorists is totally right with that view of what's happening in syria at the moment it is largely an islamist are price and an uprising which is being backed once again by certain western countries now it's absolutely legitimate to call for change within a country but you cannot take weapons and bring about change in the white by killing innocent civilians and of course what we're seeing is once again what happened in afghanistan in the one nine hundred eighty s. when america for example back to the mujahedeen against the soviet army and we in the west we're told and what you had seen including a lot and were very contrite is and then of course things go wrong with nine eleven

so it's perfectly acceptable for a president to say as it's referred to the armed opposition in syria as terrorists but he made it very clear he wants to negotiate with a domestic opposition in syria is just briefly he's made it very clear that he was addressing the syrian people but not to the international community has dismissed this speech saying well it hasn't really changed since the conflict started two years ago you had said in different but do you think this speech could perhaps bring about some sort of positive change for the syrian people why do you think any speech by any leader in the world be it president assad be president obama will bring about an end to terrible terrible war what will bring it to an end will be the end of the cessation of funding and chalan in weapons and cash to the militants in syria who are coups in terrible terrible havoc mayhem and who are bringing about terrible casualties in syria so it presents a sad speech as clarifying the situation is made it very clear what he would do and

he's made it very clear who is responsible for the conflict but also really it's got to be america. turkey saudi arabia because they've got to stop supporting militants people who are ideologically speaking the same people who talked about the terrible attacks in new york washington and london madrid and bali marcus papadopoulos editor of magazine politics thanks very much indeed for sharing your thoughts with us here live on r.t. . almost two years of anti-government protests change little in bahrain pressure form demonstrations shatter against the wall of a police crackdown some experts say it's their brutality that is fueling the uprising. and still to come this hour the u.s. military is now allowed to hold terror suspects for as long as it wants americans or foreigners thanks to the new national defense authorization act look at that in just a few minutes from now here on r.t. . barack obama signed

a last minute deal that increases taxes on the wealthiest americans prevented the country falling over the so-called fiscal cliff the nation was on the brink of a financial nosedive with billions of dollars in tax hikes automatically coming into effect if the law hadn't been passed john mcgrath from wide awake. has never been a government is an enemy when the cameras are off and it's time to pass.

artie's economics expert max kaiser thinks the deal might bring short term relief but the big problems didn't go anywhere. it's just more theater bankers and politicians trying to distract people from the underlying root catastrophe that is a bunch of frankly who are manipulating the system. the strong economy the first go cliff is just more wrong and more theater and it doesn't really focus on the true underlying problems that we're going to see more of this going forward in two thousand and thirteen if anything about what the tension from the mobs what their pitch forks and their torches there are coming out of these people they want to just delay that day of reckoning for as many months as they can but the day of reckoning twenty. analogy is because a report has more financial analysis and phone calls for the new year very little dot com.

recently leaked f.b.i. documents shows the bureau knew of a plan to assassinate or keep on wall street leaders but gave them no warning instead it chose to keep spying on the movement which it branded a domestic terrorist group as marina porno reports well it's not clear yet why the f.b.i. . nation plots surrounding them what we can and obtained by the partnership for the simple justice find u.s. human human and civil rights advocacy organization have revealed that the u.s. the f.b.i. the department of homeland security the u.s. military and private corporations all cooperated together to monitor and investigate optic occupy wall street protesters as quote domestic terrorists and quote criminals now the more shocking revelation the headline of this story is that reportedly buried deep within the government file mentions of

a plan to use snipers to assassinate occupy protesters and the movement's leaders in various cities throughout the country these alleged plans were supposed to be. eleven now the names of the groups or individuals involved in the alleged plot are redacted from the f.b.i. documents but what critics say is clear is that the f.b.i. never learned any one of the potentially any of the potential victims that their lives could possibly be in danger or that there's any threat surrounding them partnership for civil justice fund received the f.b.i. documents on december twenty second so this is fairly new information and this was after they filed a request under the freedom of information now many civil rights attorneys previously have accused the f.b.i. of functioning as a de facto intelligence arm for u.s. corporations during the occupy wall street movement and especially as it grew bigger however some critics say they never ever suspected that the f.b.i. wouldn't go to tell occupy protesters u.s.

citizens about an assassination plot surrounding them when we got more about the f.b.i. documents of occupy wall street including the exact wording on our website at the moment dot com. protests schools reform and police vomit we lash out and government rallies it's a picture that's been haunting bahrain for almost two years now with demonstrators still urging a transition to a democratically elected government as my darwish from the european bahraini organization for human rights claims even the most innocent people are falling victim to the police crackdown. security forces who are of working for the ministry of interior and migraine are practicing a lot of buy in ends and a lot to buy in nations to human rights when confronting with pro-democracy protests and behaving the protestants here inviting old though they are those radical protestors they are the minority and not the majority but they are using

such methods to prevent that violent security forces from entering their their their religious and attacking on armed civilians and children like we witnessed and the big you have off of the four year old child being attacked by security forces with tear gas canisters. a natural catalyst for discord it's no easy thing getting immigration right but russia is among the four nations that have according to the u.n. a little late to report on what it is that makes a country alluring to new hopefuls. plus union flag protests in northern ireland and then to a second month of people arrested for allegedly shooting at police on the arrests on rest after the break. wealthy british.

markets. find out what's really happening to the global economy. global financial headline news to report. good laboratory. building a new most sophisticated. fortunately doesn't sound anything. to teach creation why it should care about humans and. this is why you should care only.

around a thousand loyalist protesters have been wreaking havoc over the weekend in the northern irish capital belfast with reports of shots fired at police lines the city's been witnessing unrest since a decision by the local authorities in december to fly the british union flag only on designated occasions rather than the around jason walsh from the christian science monitor thinks there are deeper reasons for the unrest than a flag being taken down but first it's traditionally throughout its history in a predominantly protestant i don't you know city and the latest census results show that's not really the case any longer it's not slightly slight to a republican. majority or for the decision itself to fly the flag only on seventeen designated days a year taken on december third. reflects this change and that seems to be what's

troubling loyalists like it so because in fact flying the flag they simply bring it into line with other british government and civic buildings the origins of the brotherhood's billions egypt's ruling islam it stand accused of taking vast sums from the u.s. government and using the money to provoke violence of protests and that's coming up this hour. in the church of england may be the official religion of the u.k. but it's under attack from all sides but the tendency is hitting rock bottom and people being tempted away by other beliefs that's coming up later will be looking at whether the institution should be saying its prayers in more ways than one. this week president obama signed a law allowing the indefinite detention of u.s. terrorist suspects without charge or trial the national defense authorization act also delays the closure of the guantanamo prison for another year veteran congressman dennis kucinich thinks the move is part of

a patent undermining democracy. right now we're much more of a garrison and garrison plus a powerful military which keeps asserting itself a global military and it doesn't make america any safer and frankly doesn't make the world safer we're spending upwards of six hundred billion dollars for an expanded pentagon presence for more war in afghanistan and for proliferation of war in in yemen and somalia and other places we have a lot of problems here at home that we're not taking care of we have massive unemployment people are losing their homes people are losing their retirement security and i continue to say that we have to start emphasizing taking care of things here at home instead of developing a bigger footprint around the world as far as our military presence. the high price of x. rated diplomacy had online but that's honduran ambassador to colombia loses his job after a wild christmas with prostitutes is held in the embassy even though it's reported

he wasn't even there for the fun. and in many states you have hit there erected in the form of warsaw ghetto rage from locals who say it's an insult to all nazi victims the full story and that at r.t. dot com. big screen superstars here are celebrating in his new homeland after being handed his very own russian passport following dinner with vladimir putin the movie i called left his native france over what he called a punishing tax rates pushed on the rich by the new president radio station in paris has claimed five thousand french citizens have fled the country since and took office in part thanks to his tax policies and just like that one of the countries they've been moving to is russia when i. spoke to r.t.

shaun thomas about what the largest country on earth has to offer new migrants let's look at the taxes and that's the question at hand right now if you look at russia at the current laws we have a flat tax rate here of thirteen per cent in fact france and germany they both have complicated tax code if you look at france the forty one percent right now up to forty one percent in germany up to forty five percent as opposed to russia thirteen percent so you can see it's a very attractive to come to russia but if this new law comes into effect in france that mark for france goes up to seventy five percent making russia even more attractive so you know why the super rich would be wanting to move over here and step certainly there when it comes to the global meltdown that we've been seeing for years particularly twenty twelve was not a good year. for the eurozone of a much of the world indeed but somehow russia managed to avoid the global economic crisis and that is certainly the case in fact it is one of the brics countries

which means it is one of the emerging markets in the world but if you look at what's been happening around europe in fact in the past year we've been seeing austerity protests we've been seeing people come into the streets who are looking for jobs and in fact the unemployment rate's if you look at greece twenty six percent if you look at the e.u. in general the average there are eleven percent if you look at the unemployment rate in russia only six point four percent so you can see there are more jobs to be had here less people looking for work less of a dire situation but it's also an emerging market it is a diversifying market in things here relatively much more stable than in the rest of europe certainly a lot of people saying there's an awful lot of opportunity here right here in russia the biggest country on the planet interesting that the united nations is actually taking a moment to appraise russia's immigration policy is that what's what's the about well certainly if you look at the numbers the most recent numbers in fact show that russia is the second most desirable country for immigrants to come to only second to the united states in fact in fact it can be a little bit confusing because people look at the numbers about moscow being one of

the most expensive cities for ex-pats to live well that's for ex-pats and it is true things here it is a big city it can be expensive but if you look at average cost of food it's cheaper than the rest of europe much cheaper to live here for gas prices as well now keep in mind moscow russia you know this is the biggest city in the country so of course things are going to be a little bit more expensive here but russian general things cheaper than in europe for goddess of that it's just a fun place to be and it certainly is in fact the arts in the culture of the entertainment here moscow is famous for its nightlife but if you look past that we have famous musicians coming from russia famous artists famous history architecture all of that here but i'm going to say russia has always had this balance between east and west right so if you look at the orthodox culture in the western cultures i think that the real reason people come here is that you get two christmases and you get two new years. it seems everyone wants a piece of to bed while beijing rues the region with riches the western media focuses on human rights abuses r.t.

europe is kind of went to gauge the feeling on the ground there. of the garment quality of china a slogan so widespread in tibet it's even displayed on taxis here everything is an ambiguous mix of modern technology and tradition communism and religion. six his son is a buddhist monk but ten years ago this elderly man joined the communist. or do i knew the party is breathing new life into our nation and the margins your time in the capital were shops and businesses beneath the monasteries on the hills this is quite a normal scene for us every day believers gather in the city center to pray right outside what is traditions are very strong here but at the same time chinese national red flags are hanging almost on every poll in every building as a constant reminder which country tibet is

a part of. for decades china has been accused of occupying tibet and destroying its culture human rights organizations report numerous abuses there on a daily basis some are even willing to go to the most extreme measures in protest in almost all instances protests are put down through violence so chinese security personnel will come in and more he's five to basically stop place protests we've documented cases where the chinese state news lethal force against tibetans in one town fifteen people were shot local authorities denial of geishas of human rights violations claiming the suffering malaysians are organized from abroad accusing the worst of a full scale media assault on china the united states has been using to bat for. six decades now says the truman administration co-opted to fight communism

and they will continue this because their modus operandi these days seems to be human rights violations over the years china's spent over sixty billion euros dollars to build schools roads and water supplies as well as developing industries from beer factories to cultural workshops. outside the capital in one of tibet's most ancient temples when we ask the monk what he thinks of the exile of their spiritual leader the dalai lama he surprisingly said he didn't hear. the government supplies clothes food and other necessities not the dalai lama i couldn't care less where he was assessing tibet is not easy even on the ground it's hard to see what's true and what's being deliberately shown to foreigners but what's crucial for the next generation of tibetans is that the mix of ancient traditions and beijing's billions can pay off.

this one off r.t. tibet. venezuela could soon find itself at a political crossroads later this hour a report on the ultimatum is the country's opposition is issuing in case the longtime leader hugo chavez fails to attend his own inauguration for health reasons . and for better or for worse stay with us to find out where mixed israeli palestinian couples go to live in the face of discrimination that's coming up shortly. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom are welcome to the big picture.

which brighten. the balance from phones to. screens down totty dot com. this is the weekly here on auty venezuela's president hugo chavez who's currently

battling cancer may be too ill to attend his own swearing in ceremony on thursday these political rivals are demanding a new election if he doesn't show up to be inaugurated for his fourth term of office but geo political analyst eric draitser believes the opposition is taking advantage of the situation to undermine the governed. what is important is the fact that the opposition is using this as a political mechanism by which they can try to deal with them eyes the government in venezuela remember that in two thousand and two when the united states and spain and other powers around the world collaborated in conspired to oust chavez in an illegal coup and we saw what the significance of chavez was that he had a base of support on the streets in that country that could not be shaken by an international force and so what they're attempting to do is to use his health situation to break apart that base of support and to convince people that chavez is unable to serve the the constitution in venezuela allows for

a wiggle room here it does not say that just because he can't be at the inauguration that there has to be new elections that is what the opposition is trying to create something they're not explicit they're trying to make it explicit now it could be a symbol for peace in a troubled region but a village open to mixed israeli palestinian couples is now straining under the load of all those who want to move their. reports on the challenges of a village seemingly forgotten by the israeli government israelis cannot live in the west bank and most palestinians cannot live in israel which leaves those israelis and palestinians who want to share a home out in the cold. one hundred my husband this from have i'm from interests of and i found work in jerusalem and used to live there with my children but without my husband because he is not allowed to live there he couldn't visit me even once at the end of each week i would go to happen to visit him live like that for food.